We continued research on the molecular mechanism of meiotic recombination in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with a focus on two aspects of this complex biological event. We examined the initiation event in meiotic recombination, double-strand DNA break formation, with the aim of identifying the enzyme(s) responsible for break formation, their substrate requirements, and the factors that control the location and frequency of breaks. We also are studying the relationship between recombination and chromosome pairing, with the aim of identifying sites and factors important for the chromosome pairing and recombination events that occur during meiosis.